Apparatus for producing continuous tubing



Jan. 29, 1929;

1,700,508 J. W. MOON I APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING CONTINUOUS TUBING Filed March 31, 1925 2' Slants-Sheet 1 Hlllllllitllllllllllm lV/IWESS.

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Jan. 29, 1929. 1,700,508

J. w. MOON APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING CONTINUOUS TUBING 'Filed llarch 31, i925 zsnms-sneet. 2

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Patented Jan. 29, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1,700,508 PATENT, OFFICE.

JOHN W. MOON, 0F BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 FRETZ-MOON TUBE COM- PANY, OF BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING CONTINUOUS TUBING.

Application filed March 31, 1925. Serial- No. 19,568.

In the manufacture of butt-welded or lapwelded tubing or pipe from fiat skelp, in accordance with patents issued to me December 4', 1923, No. 1,-l76,537 and No. 1,476,632, the tubing, after it is formed by bending the sliclp into tubular form and welding the edges together, is run through a pair of sizing rolls and a pair of finishing rolls in order to accurately regulate their size and perfect their shape. In the said patents, a process and apparatus are shown whereby such tubing is formed continuously from an endless skelp that travels continuously through an elongated furnace so as to be gradually heated therein to or near a welding temperature, the skelp being bent into tubular form by a pair of bending or forming rolls located a short distance of the furnace and which may also weld the edges together; the tubing then traveling through a pair of sizing rolls and a pair of finishing rolls, both turning on horizontal axes. Where, as in said patents, the bending or forming rolls turn on vertical axes, the said arrangement of the sizing and finishing rolls on horizontal axes is theoretically ideal; but inasmuch as the rolls following the bending or forming rolls, and especially the first pair of such rolls, operate to somewhat constrict the diameter of the tubing, there is considerable wearon the sidesof the grooves I of the rolls adjacent the roll edges. As the tubing continues traveling hour after hour through the rolls, the cumulative wear on the rolls is such as to make a pipe having a somewhat elliptical contour. If a set of guides, such as are illustrated in said Patent No. 1,476,632, is positioned in front of the sizing rolls, such guides take the wear to a great extent, but they do not altogether prevent wear on the rolls with the resultant tendency to form pipes of somewhat oval shape. Moi-e1 over, in order to maintain the proper functioning of the rolls of each pair of sizing rolls after they are so worn, they should be made adjustable one toward the other, but after such adjustment the tendency to produce oval pipes is still more pronounced. with the specific arrangement of the patent, the life of the rolls is limited, if itbe desired to produce a perfect pipe.

In the present invention there is substituted for, or added to, the two pairs of rolls following the first pair of bending rolls, two pairs of rolls, the axes of one pair being arbeyond the delivery mouth justment ranged at right angles to the axes of the other pair; these two substituted or added pairs of rolls being mounted in bearings and housings, and provided with means for adjustment, as hereinafter described.

The first pair of bending rolls may function also as welding rolls, as in my said patents. Preferably, however, they act merely to bend the skelp into tubular form with the longitudinal edges slightly spaced apart; the operation of welding being performed by the pair of rolls innnediately following, which last mentioned/pair of rolls slightly decreases the diameter of the tubing so as to bring the edges together, or sufliciently near together, to effect the welding operation. The last mentioned pair of rolls may be the first of the two pairs of rolls whose bearings, housingsand operating mechanism are illustrated in the drawings and hereinafter particularly described. Preferably, however, two of the three pairs of rolls set forth in my said patents, or all three of them, are retained, the first operating as bending rolls, and the sec-. ond, or third, or second and third, operating to weld, and also to preliminarily form or size; while the rolls whose bearings, housings, etc., are herein particularly described and illustrated are located a substantial distance (say ten or twenty feet) in advance of the bending, welding and preliminary SIZ- ing rolls and operate to finally size and finish the welded pipe.

The two sets of rolls which may be substituted for the sizing rolls and finishing rolls of the patented mill, but which are preferably added to the three sets of rolls of the patented mill, secure the following characteristic features and advantages: the production of tubing having a true circular shape; provisions for adjusting the rolls to take up wear; such an arrangement of rolls that ad- (within reasonable limits) to take up wear will not interfere with the production of tubing having a true circular contour; and a much increase-d life for the rolls. By reason of these advantages, the mill is adapted to produce a consistently superior product and at a reduced expense.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the final sizing and finishing roll mill.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the same, partly broken away.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view to an enlarged scale showing the aligning working faces of both sets of rolls.

Fig. '5 is'a diagrammatic view of a preferred arrangement of rolls for bending,. welding, sizing and finishing.

w, 02, represent the first pair of final sizing rolls, which are on horizontal axes. y, y-represent the second pair of final sizing rolls, or finishing rolls, which are on vertical axes. The sequence of these two final sizing rolls may be reversed, that is: the first pair of sizing rolls may be on vertical axes and the second pair onhorizontal axes.

- The spindles of sizing rolls w turn in bearing blocks a, which are vertically slidable 1n housings b, b. The housings have caps c Adjusting screws (Z limit the upward movement of the roll spindle bearings durmg the passage of tubing between the rolls. By means of these screws, the upper roll may be adjusted toward the lower roll to compensate for wear. j

The spindles of the sizing rolls y turn in bearing blocks j, which are slidable horizontally in guides g on the housing h. By means of adjusting screw 73 extending through a cap j, one roll may be adjusted toward the other to compensate for wear; although rolls 1 are subjected to relatively little wear, as will be hereinafter explained.-

the shafts n, n for driving the spindles of rolls m, w. The lower of these shafts maybe assumed to be a driving shaft, from which the up er shaft is driven by means of gears On t e top of the main frame are mounted hearings to, u, u for a shaft t, which, by means of two pairs of bevel gears 01, *0, drive vertica;1 shafts w, for driving the spindles of r0 5 y.

On the upper shaft 71. is a pulley p, which is connected, by means of a chain 1', with a pulley s on the shaft 5.

While the preliminary sizing rolls w, m tend, after wear, to impart an oval or ellipticalshapc to the tubing "or pipe that travels between them, the corrective sizing rolls y, y will squeeze in the tubing on the line of its longer radius and impart a true circular shape to the tubing.

The wear on the sizing rolls sad: is therefore not so serious a matter, because any dis- 'tortion in the pipe as a result of such wear will be compensated for by the second pair of sizing rolls 3 3 As heretofore explained, the wear or the first pair of rolls ac'is principally on that. portion of its groove adjacent the edge, as indicated at 9, Fig. 4. 1n the second pair of sizing rolls y, however, there is little such wear; because the main pressure of the metal v is against the base of the groove of each roll.

It will therefore be understood that re-- peatedjadjustments of sizing rolls m are not so objectionable as in a construction wherein the first pair of sizing rolls is remedied by the next pair of sizing rolls; and the wear on the second pair of rolls is so slight that they have a long life. Of course, when the wear on either set of rolls becomes excessive, the rolls should be changed.

Inasmuch as one at least of the rolls a: is adjustable toward the other of the rolls on, while it is desirable to maintain their driving shafts n in fixed relation, I prefer to connect each roll spindle with its driving shaft by means of a coupling Z that will permit of adjusting the roll spindle without effecting a corresponding adjustment of the driving shaft. I have provided such a coupling between both spindles and their respective shafts, although, if only one roll of a pair is adjustable, the connection between 1 the other'roll spindle and its driving shaft- Referring now (see Fig. 5) to all the rolls beyond the furnace: .2 represents the first pair of rolls, which act to bend the skelp into tubular form and which may also act to weld the edges together. Any other bending and welding means may be substituted for the rolls 2. It is preferred, however, to employ rolls a and it is preferred to arrange them on vertical axes, as in my said patents. It is preferred, also that the rolls shall act only to bend, and that another pairof rather closely adjacent rolls 11, which turn preferably on horizontal axes, shall perform the welding operation; the welding, whether lap-welding or butt-welding, being effected by bringing the longitudinal edges of the skelp together. It is also preferred to provide still another pair of rolls 12 in advance of, and closely adj acent to, rolls 11, which cooperate with rolls 11 to complete the forming or preliminary sizing operation. Finally, it is preferred that the final sizing and finishing roll mill a substantial distance in advance of the rolls a,

' comprising" the rolls a; and y shall be located ing shall be performed on the tubing after it has been somewhat cooled below the tempera ture at which it is welded.

. The various rolls described and shown may be designated respectively as the bending rolls 2, the welding and preliminary sizing rolls 1L and 12, the secondary sizing rolls :0,

and welding its edges together and separate mechanism for shaping and sizing the welded tube, comprising a pair of sizing and round ing rolls arranged beyond the bending rolls and rotatable on horizontal axes, spindles on said rolls, bearings in which the spindles turn, housing for the bearings, a second pair of sizing. and rounding rolls arranged adjacent the first pair of sizing and rounding rolls and turnable on vertical axes, spindles on the second named rolls, hearings in which the last named spindles turn, housing, for the last named bearings, driving shafts for the spindles of the first pair of rolls, gearing between said shafts, a third shaft, a driving connection between one of the first two shafts and the third shaft, driving shafts for the spindles of the second pair of rolls, and bevel gears between each of the last two shafts and the third shaft.

2. In an apparatus for producing tubing continuously from continuously traveling heated skelp, the combination with mechanism for welding skelp comprising forming and welding rolls for bending the skelp into tubular form and welding its edges together, and separate mechanism for-shaping and sizing the welded tube, comprising a pair of sizing androunding rolls arranged beyond the bending and welding rolls and a succeeding pair of corrective sizing rolls arranged adjav hereunto set my hand, at Philadelphia, Penn,

cent to the first named sizing and rounding rolls, the rolls of one pair being on axes at substantially right angles to the axes of the other pair, both pairs of rolls having asses of substantially circular contour, where y if, as a result of wear, the first pair ofsizing rolls imparts a somewhat oval or elliptical shape to the tubing or pipe, the corrective pair of sizing rolls will squeeze the tubing on the line of longer radius and impart a true circular shapethereto.

3. In an apparatus for producing tubing continuously from continuously traveling heated skelp, the combination with mechanism for welding skelp'comprising forming rolls for bending the skelp into tubular form and welding its edges together, a pair of sizing and rounding rolls having a substantially circular pass arranged beyond and relatively close to the bendingand welding rolls and adapted to cooperate with the latter to preliininarily size the tubing, and separate mechanism for shaping and sizing the welded tube comprising a second pair of sizing and rounding rolls arran ed beyond and relatively distant from the first pair of sizing and rounding rolls, and a succeeding pair of corrective sizing rolls arranged adjacent the second pair of sizing and rounding rolls, the rolls of one of the last two pairs being on axes at substantially right angles to the axis of the other pair, all said sizingroll' passes being of substantially circular contour.

In testimony of which invention, I have on this 23rd day of February, 1925.

- JOHN W. MOON. 

